On Jan. 12, Stevenson hosted the annual Choir Consortium in the Performing Arts Center (PAC) from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Twin Groves Middle School, Fremont Middle School, Aptakisic Junior High School, Daniel Wright Junior High School, Woodlawn Middle School, and West Oak Middle School students both watched and performed in the Consortium.
The program began with the Stevenson group Nothing But Treble singing “Lift Me Up” with coordinated outfits of jean jackets and red and white bandanas. Afterwards, the Stevenson group Low Frequency sang “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” from Disney’s The Lion King. The Stevenson Polyphonic group sang “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” where Peri Yim ’27 and Ethan Michaels ’26 had solos. “Father Thunder” sung by the Patriot Singers, with a percussionist accompaniment imitating the sound of thunder closed out their performance.
“My favorite song of the year, hands down, is ‘Father Thunder,’” Patriot Singer Nora Hunt ’26 said. “The way it branches off from normal choir songs, the rhythmic vocal cues, and the audience reactions make it the best song I have sung this year.”
Following the end of “Father Thunder,” middle school choir students were invited to the stage, being conducted by Associate Choral Director Kirstin Snelten for their first song and by Choral Director Roland Hatcher during their second song. The 8th graders sang both “Be the Change” and “900 Miles.”
“One of my all time favorite songs during the concert actually was the one that the middle schoolers sang,” Patriot Singer Gurkriti Kochhar ’27 said. “I sang that piece during my freshman year, and it has always stuck with me as a song I use to define what choir is to me.”
During the short intermission, Hatcher and the Choir Board took the opportunity to explain what life in choir would be like as a Stevenson student. After the brief intermission, middle school students went onstage to prepare to sing. This concert marked the transition for some of these students into being a Patriot Singer.
“I was in choir at my middle school, Fremont, and I did go to Consortium,” Hunt said. “It wasn’t the major point of me joining choir, but it definitely helped ease any fears or questions I had about it.”
The final performance was sung by both Stevenson and middle school choir members, singing “Down by the Riverside” conducted by Hatcher. Middle school students stood atop the bleachers after Stevenson’s singers cleared them.
“I think having the opportunity for the entirety of Stevenson choir to come in and perform with the middle schoolers allowed them to get a sense of how a person feels surrounded by a big community that the Stevenson choir provides,” Kochhar said. “Hearing them sing so well was so nostalgic, and I definitely teared up a bit.”
